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Female Presenter: Good afternoon everyone.
On behalf of Google+ and Musicians@Google,
I am thrilled to welcome Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina to Google today.
[applause]
Scotty: Howdy, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[applause]
Female Presenter: And as many of you know,
they are the winner and runner-up, respectively,
of Season 10 of American Idol.
They're in town right now for their Bay Area concerts with American Idol Live.
Scotty: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Female Presenter: So welcome to the Bay Area, guys.
Scotty: Thank you.
Thank you.
It's chilly out here, isn't it?
Or, at night.
Female Presenter: Yeah, first impressions on July,
summertime, in the Bay Area.
Lauren: It's a little cold.
Scotty: Yeah, it's 105 degrees yesterday in North Carolina.
So it's a little, wee bit different.
It's nice.
Female Presenter: Right.
And so, welcome.
And then, Lauren, I have to point out
I'm sorry to hear about this ankle.
What happened?
We gotta get to the bottom of this.
Lauren: Well, we were at--.
It was at Portland, Oregon.
We were in Portland and I was walking down some stairs backstage,
'cause I was wearing a new outfit
and I had to find some heels to match.
So, I borrowed Thia's.
And that was not a good idea
because I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle.
And now I have this sparkly boot.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: For those of you in the back who can't see,
this is the most bedazzled boot I have ever seen.
We'll have to get some photos and post that later.
So let's talk.
Other than the ankle issue,
which we all hope will heal,
let's talk a little bit about the tour.
So, it's pretty fresh.
You guys started just recently
and this is the beginning of quite a long trip.
So, first impressions on touring and how's it going so far,
besides the ankle?
Scotty: Yeah, so far it's been really great.
We started off July 6th in Salt Lake
and we're headed to the end of September and finish up.
We're adding dates here and there.
So, it's been great.
All the crowds' been receptive of us and I think it's going really good.
A whole lot better than I expected.
Lauren: It's kinda cool to go to the different places
and see the different reactions
and how people act differently in the areas.
Like, everyone seems excited to see us,
but they show it in different ways in different places.
Scotty: Yeah, it's cool for me 'cause I'm a sports fan.
So we're playing at all these NBA venues and hockey venues and I'm all,
"All right. It's cool."
Female Presenter: All right. So you're checking off your venue list there.
Scotty: I know. Exactly.
Female Presenter: That's great.
And so, tell us a little bit about like,
your average day on the tour.
Are you sleeping in?
Are you getting up early?
What's the regime like?
Lauren: Well, Scotty sleeps at any chance that he gets.
Scotty: [laughing ]Got that right.
Lauren: And I have to get up early,
especially now that I have a boot on my foot
because it takes me forever to get ready.
But I mean--.
Scotty: Basically, it's just like clockwork nowadays.
We wake up.
We get on the bus.
We head to the venue.
And it's just like, meet and greet, show, meet and greet,
autograph signing, dinner.
Lauren: Bus.
Female Presenter: Visits to great companies in the middle.
Scotty: Visits to Google.
This is the best place I've seen ever to work at.
This place is crazy.
[chuckling] [clapping, whistling]
Yeah.
Female Presenter: Well, we're really glad to have you.
And they were enjoying the smoothies on the way up.
So, they get taste of-- Lauren: I got the googly blueberry.
Female Presenter: You're getting a taste of Slice.
OK. So, let's go back in time a little bit.
So, Scotty, I do have to say that my mom picked you from the first audition.
Scotty: Aww, thank you.
Female Presenter: Which is, you know.
So, I got the phone call right after you won.
But, when in the process was it that you both--.
Of course you believe in yourself the whole way through, right?
And you believe, but when was it that you felt
like that it was really within sight
and things that you guys were gonna be winner and runner-up?
Scotty: Winner and runner-up, or like actually could be on the--.
Female Presenter: Well, you being the winner
and Lauren, of course, being runner-up?
Scotty: Yeah. I remember it was about Top Five on the show.
We were walking around the apartment.
This is like the fifth time we'd moved.
We finally got to apartments.
And I was walking around my bed and I said,
"Mom, I'm starting to kinda wanna win this thing."
So, I kicked it in another gear after that.
But it was pretty much Hollywood week.
And once I got through that,
I felt like I could get through anything.
I'd never--.
I would never--.
I would pity you if you had to go back to Hollywood week next year.
That week, I just--.
Female Presenter: Grueling?
Scotty: It is. Lauren: It's rough.
Female Presenter: And Lauren, what about you?
Lauren: I thought I was going home every week. [laughter]
I would like, on the Elimination Day,
I would go up to everyone
and tell them everything that I loved about them 'cause
I thought I was going home. [giggles]
Female Presenter: It was the end every week.
That must've been a little exhausting.
Lauren: Yeah.
I mean, everyone knew what I thought about them.
Female Presenter: And then, what--.
One of my favorite parts about the show is towards the end
when they do the look back
and you see your auditions
and you see your different performances.
What is it like for you guys to have had that experience documented
and to look back at those first times?
And even, you know your recent performances?
What's that like?
Scotty: It's still wild for us to think about them.
Me and Casey were on the bus the other day and we said yeah--.
We were talking about just getting done with the show
and we stopped and said,
"We really just did the number one show on television."
And it's still crazy for us to think about that we actually went through that
and got to do that.
So, it's still pretty wild.
I mean, I go back on YouTube and watch my audition a number of times,
just thinking, "Wow."
It seems like so long ago,
but then again, it seems like it was just yesterday.
Lauren: It's really cool to be able to watch it
because you can see how you change throughout the whole experience.
Like, if you pull up my first audition,
I don't even look like the same person.
Not only like,
how I act and stuff.
Scotty: She didn't like her hair in that video.
Lauren: But I just,
I don't even look like the same girl anymore.
It's kinda--.
Like, people say,
"You look so different in person."
But I think I'm just like--.
I guess when you're 16 years old and you're a girl,
you change a lot anyway.
I just did it on national television.
So, like forever I'll be able to pull it up
and look how much I drastically changed.
Female Presenter: [chuckling] Absolutely.
You got a little video yearbook of your year.
Scotty: Oh yeah.
Female Presenter: So let's talk about the judges on the show, right?
This was the first year with this great set of new judges.
And what was that like working with them
and working with Jimmy Iovine,
kind of the crew that you were surrounded with?
Can you guys talk a little bit about the inner scoop?
Scotty: Yeah. The judges were great.
I mean, we were both kinda worried about the new judges
and stuff, new season,
but it worked out perfectly.
I mean, Steven Tyler, he's just a crazy dude,
a funny dude,
but he treated us like we were his kids.
So, he was really a cool guy off-stage.
And Jennifer, she's just a sweetheart.
So, I think I had a little--.
Me and her had a little connection because we had the Puerto Rican blood.
Female Presenter: That's right.
That's right. [laughter]
Scotty: And Randy's just a dawg.
I mean, "Yo, dawg," not a dog. [laughter]
Lauren: We get asked a lot who our favorite judge is.
And it's kind of hard to say
because they're all so different and they're just all really great.
Steven's really funny and he says the craziest things that never make sense,
but that's what makes you love him.
And then Jennifer's like--.
She's really--.
You can tell that she really cares.
Like, she's a very caring person and even like backstage and stuff.
She'd know if we'd be nervous and stuff and hug us
and try to make us feel better.
And Randy's just, he's just Randy.
Everyone--.
I mean, he's been, he's the trooper.
He's stayed there since the first season, so it's cool to--.
We've watched him all these years,
so we actually get to know him now.
So, it's really nice.
Female Presenter: And so, we have this thing at Google called the Dory.
And the Dory tool is where we solicit questions from various people.
You can submit text questions and the people can vote on them.
This is a good question.
This is a bad question.
So, this is a question from the Dory, submitted by Amy.
So, Idol's been around for ten seasons
and remains being successful as the number one show on TV.
What do you think it is about Idol that sets it apart from other reality show competitions?
Scotty: I think it's a testament with just me and Lauren.
I mean, I think--.
[laughing]
Lauren: Oh, my God.
No, I have a point.
I was gonna that middle America can relate to us
'cause I was bagging groceries and she was a pizza flipper.
And to see that somebody like us could do this,
I think middle America just likes that.
Lauren: I think it's because the crowd is so involved in everything
that goes on in the show,
like they get to pick the results.
And even if what they want to happen doesn't,
it's cool to see how it actually all turns out.
I just love the show.
I'm a big fan.
Female Presenter: So, when you, I'm assuming you watched the show before,
would you text and would you go online?
And were you active, engaged viewer?
Lauren: Oh yeah.
Scotty: Yeah, I was mainly a huge voter,
but in Season 2, Clay Aiken was in it
and he was like, ten minutes from my house.
So it kinda got started in Raleigh like it did this year.
So that's when I kinda got on the Idol bandwagon.
Female Presenter: Cool.
So, let's talk a little bit more about home towns.
So James is from Santa Cruz.
And so we all saw in the Bay Area how exciting that was
when his home town rallied around.
So, what's it been like for you guys?
Have you gotten a chance to go home besides the episodes on the show?
What's that like knowing
that you're both kind of far away from home being in California?
Scotty: It's pretty wild for us
'cause we grew up our whole life just being home town kids,
just normal, average teenagers.
And now, when we go back,
we can't go out to dinner without signing autographs and taking pictures.
And people treat us differently.
The people that we're closest to, they don't treat us any different.
And they still slap us around if we get a big head or anything.
But, exactly.
Mama. [Lauren giggles]
Female Presenter: Pointing to the mothers in the corner of the room.
You can't even walk through Google
without getting photographs and autographs.
Lauren: [giggling] That's kinda cool.
I never thought I would say I was walking through Google.
[laughs]
I come from a town with 3500 people.
So, it's a lot different being in California,
where you can go to the mall and there's 3500 people there.
[laughter]
So, when I went home,
it was a lot different.
I mean, 'cause pretty much everyone knows everyone for the most part
where I live anyway.
But I met a lot of people that I thought I knew just about everybody,
but I didn't.
And I have a lot more cousins than I thought.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: People coming out of the woodwork?
Lauren: I got all kinds of family members that I didn't have before.
Female Presenter: [laughing]
That's great.
So, let's take another question from the Dory.
This is from Anonymous.
No, don't worry.
So, do you ever wish the judges would give you or the others
more constructive criticism than showering everyone
with a lot of the same compliments?
Scotty: You mean everybody wasn't in it to win it this year?
[laughter]
Lauren: What?
Scotty: No, I mean I thought the judges this year were nice.
I mean, they weren't the Simon Cowell beating us up and everything.
But they were nice to us
and it gave us confidence going into the week,
knowing that we didn't have to see Simon Cowell
on the end of the judge's panel.
'Cause I can't imagine how that would've been.
He woulda hated me.
[laughter]
Lauren: Well, he liked blondes.
Female Presenter: He might have had something going for you.
Lauren: No, I think that the judges are kind of there to help us
do the best that we can
because the audience is what makes the decision,
or the people who make the decision anyway.
So they can be tough on us and send us home
if we're not doing good enough.
But it's kind of nice to have someone pushing you a little bit,
but not being too mean about it at the same time.
Female Presenter: Right. Right.
I'm sure there were other people on the show working with you
that were actually giving--.
Scotty: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
The producers and Jimmy and all the guys up at Interscope
were with us every week,
helping us out and the vocal coaches.
And we had a lot of people behind the scenes
that nobody else saw that helped us to get through every week.
Female Presenter: Right. Right.
That's great.
So, let's take another one from the Dory.
This one's specifically for Scotty.
One of my favorite songs is Craig Morgan's, "Almost Home."
I had really hoped you would end up doing that during the show.
How much flexibility do you get in song choice on the impending album
and is a cover of "Almost Home" possible?
Scotty: Yeah.
I mean for song choices for the album,
it's pretty much my choice.
And we have people that help me out with the choices
when we get demos and stuff.
For a cover song on the album,
I don't think we'll do it on this first one
just 'cause we have the chance to put out brand new material.
And I just got off a national televised show of three months doing nothing but covers.
So I think it'll be a--.
Female Presenter: Right. Changing it up.
Scotty: Yeah.
It'll be nice to--.
Female Presenter: So, what are the plans for the album?
Scotty: We're recording.
I mean, on our off days,
it's pretty much me and Lauren's non-show day,
still a work day.
So, we're going to the studios
and we're recording vocals and we're getting close,
close to the finish line with the album.
Female Presenter: Great.
And so you're working on an album as well.
Lauren: Yes I am.
I actually have to record pretty soon.
And it's kind of scary because no one has ever heard these songs before.
So if they don't like them,
they're just gonna can 'em, I guess.
I don't know.
It's scary.
Female Presenter: Well, let's be positive. [laughter]
Lauren: Looking on the bright side of things.
Female Presenter: [laughs] Great.
I'm sure you have a great team working with you and you'll do a great job.
OK.
So let's talk a little bit,
move away from the show and the tour and talk a little bit.
You mentioned earlier about your auditions that you've looked back on YouTube.
And millions of people have watched your auditions
and watched different videos.
So, do you guys go onto YouTube and watch those videos?
Or do you watch,
what other sorts of things do you watch on YouTube?
Scotty: Oh, yeah.
I mean, I'm on YouTube pretty much after every show to see my--.
Even on tour now, I'm looking at the videos people take out there.
And not so much to see me, but to critique me and say,
"What are you doing there?
And fix that for the next show."
And I do stuff like that.
It's a cool little tool we get to use and I mean,
I did it on the show as well.
Lauren: It's, you kind of have to
because you make these little mistakes and you're able to watch them
so you can kind of think about not doing 'em anymore.
It's a good way to better yourself.
Female Presenter: Right. It's like a crowd sourced home video.
Everybody's videoing for you.
And so what about,
do you guys go onto YouTube for fun?
Do you watch YouTube videos?
Scotty: Oh yeah.
There's the classic--.
Female Presenter: Any favorites?
Scotty: There's the classic,
[imitates British accent] "Charlie, that really hurt."
Lauren: "Would ya look at that.
Would you just look at it?"
Scotty: I don't know.
There's a lot of classic YouTube videos out there that--.
Lauren: I think that's so funny and I showed it to Scotty
and he didn't think it was that funny.
Female Presenter: The "would you look at that."
Lauren: Have you seen it?
Female Presenter: Would you look at that?
Lauren: Would you look at that?
Female Presenter: Just look at that.
Lauren: Oh, where's he at, I like to look at--.
Have ya'll seen that?
No?
Female Presenter: No?
We'll have to share that afterwards.
I think it's called like,
Lauren: "Would You Look At That."
Female Presenter: "Would You Look At That."
It's like a sketch comedy prank.
Lauren: It's funny.
Female Presenter: But anyway.
And then what about Google?
Have you guys Googled yourself ever?
Scotty: We did a lot early on.
Lauren: Kinda quick doing that.
Scotty: And then we learned pretty quick
that not everybody loves us out there. [laughter]
Lauren: We decided that wasn't a good move.
Scotty: Yeah.
I mean, the bloggers out there are the worst part.
I mean, if you read articles.
I like to read it, you know?
I love articles, so I Google myself.
The Google alerts and everything.
Female Presenter: How nice.
Scotty: You know? You know?
Female Presenter: Let's just talk real quick about the Google Alert.
Is it the full Scotty McCreery?
Do you also do them for Scotty?
Scott McCreery?
What's your technique?
Scotty: Scotty was actually something you could search
and it would come up on the little bar that you search.
That was really exciting.
Lauren: I'd type in Scotty and then McCreery's down there.
Scotty: If you type in S-C-O, it comes up.
Female Presenter: That's the--. You're the first--.
Scotty: It's exciting. [laughter]
That was really exciting.
Female Presenter: So, you've spent some time.
Scotty: You know.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: The answer is yes.
Lauren: We've never Googled ourselves.
Female Presenter: Now Lauren, do you also have Google Alerts for yourself?
Lauren: Yeah.
I mean--
Female Presenter: You oughtta do it.
Lauren: My mom is always on Google.
Female Presenter: Nice.
Lauren: Thank goodness.
And if there's something good then she'll show it to me.
And I guess she doesn't show me the negative stuff.
Female Presenter: Maybe it's all positive.
Maybe it's all positive.
Lauren: I'm always looking on the bright side of things
as everyone can tell. [laughter]
Female Presenter: Yeah.
The album's gonna be great.
So, let's talk a little bit about just how the social media things,
whether it be Facebook or Twitter,
or other digital things that you guys are doing.
How has that--.
Do you think that's shaped where you are now?
What you're doing?
How you're connecting with fans?
Scotty: It's definitely been a great tool for us to connect personally with the fans
and not just seeing them on the show days and stuff,
but be able to tell them--.
I mean, they like to know what we're doing,
so if I wake up and eat Cap'n Crunch,
I'll tell 'em I'm eating Cap'n Crunch.
So it's just cool little things like that,
that get them connected to our normal lives.
Lauren: I just started using Twitter when I was on the show.
And it's really cool because my fans will tweet me and they come to the show.
And this one little girl tweeted me and said,
"Look for me.
I'm gonna wear an 'I Love Lauren' shirt that's hot pink."
And I didn't tweet her back
because I didn't wanna say that I'd look for her and then not see her.
She's the first person I saw that day.
I was like, "Did you tweet me?"
And she got really excited and we took a picture and she tweeted it to me.
So, it's really cool that we have that connection with them.
Female Presenter: That's great.
And so, that's so fun.
And so, connecting with fans is obviously a big part of your tour
and obviously, like you said, your daily Cap'n Crunch updates.
So, earlier on Scotty and Lauren's visit,
we gave them a tour of,
and an overview of, Google+.
So you guys got to see a little bit about Google+ and you guys--.
So, first impressions?
Or do you wanna talk about the hangout?
Scotty: Yeah.
It was really cool.
I mean, it's gonna be cool for me 'cause I get to,
you know the Skypes and stuff you can only do one person,
so with Google+, you can get ten.
So I can get all by boys from back home in Raleigh and from on the tour bus I can just--.
We can hang out.
Female Presenter: Right. Right.
[applause] [laughter]
Scotty: And I know you wanna talk about it.
Lauren: There's this guy on there and his name is Jonathan.
And he asked us if we were in choir.
And we both were
and he said that he grew up in choir and it was really strict and stuff.
So I asked him to sing.
And he was like, "I don't even know what I would sing."
Like, real embarrassed.
I was like, "Sing the Star-Spangled Banner."
Someone said that so I told him to sing it.
And he did.
He sang the whole thing. [audience laughs]
And like, ten people were watching
and we could see the people down at the bottom, laughing.
And we were all like--.
It wasn't like it was funny.
It was just like I couldn't believe he was actually doing it.
It was really cool.
Female Presenter: It was a live hangout.
Lauren: Make a shout-out to Jonathan.
I don't know if he's gonna see this,
but we love you, man.
[giggles] [laughter]
Female Presenter: It was very, very cool.
So then, Scotty, you mentioned your boys at home
and that might be a good--.
We talked a little bit about circles, right?
And what groups you put people in.
So, Scotty, if you were gonna put Lauren in a circle-- [laughter]
when you are on Google+, which is not yet, right?
Because they're not 18.
But in the future,
if you get on Google+,
what circle would you put Lauren in?
Scotty: Hmm.
What circle would you put me in, Lauren?
That'll give me time to think.
[chuckles]
Lauren: I don't know. [giggles]
Scotty: Block.
Just kidding.
I'm just kidding.
Female Presenter: What about me?
What circle would you put me in?
Scotty: Friends.
Female Presenter: Friend circle.
Lauren: Come on, Scotty.
Scotty: Well, you know.
Lauren: I get blocked and you get friends.
Female Presenter: [laughing] You never know.
Things happen at Google quickly.
[laughter]
So, I think we can,
if there are people in the audience who would like to ask some questions,
if you guys wanna line up at the mic.
So, we can prepare for that if there's anybody.
Otherwise, I can keep asking questions.
Nobody.
Lauren: OK.
Female Presenter: Quiet bunch.
Quiet bunch.
So, nobody?
All right.
All right.
I'll keep going.
Scotty: Oh, there we go.
Female Presenter: OK, we have one.
female #1: OK. First of all, moms.
You did a great job with these kids.
[applause]
So I'm curious about the outfits and clothes you wore on the show.
Did you guys have to bring your own clothes,
like the white suit with big flowers?
Scotty: Oh, yeah.
female #1: That, I forget his name.
Lauren: Paul.
female #1: Paul wore.
Or, did they choose your clothes for you?
How did that work?
Scotty: Well, Paul's suits were actually his suits
that a friend made him back home in Nashville.
But for us on the show,
we got to go out every week with the stylist.
And did you go out with Art or Miles?
Lauren: I went out with Soyon.
Scotty: Soyon.
She went out with Soyon,
like Carrie Underwood and she does a lot of big acts.
She is our tour person, too.
But we'd go out and we'd get a budget
and we'd just shop for clothes we thought would look good.
Lauren: Yeah, and we got lots of boots on the show.
Scotty: We did.
Female Presenter: Do you get to keep the clothes?
Lauren: Yeah.
We got to keep them all.
Female Presenter: Wow.
So, your wardrobe is, your closet's getting--.
Lauren: We had to send boxes home with clothes--
because we didn't have anywhere to put them.
Female Presenter: Oh, that's nice.
And then what about your tour outfits?
Lauren: We get to keep those, too.
Scotty: Yeah. [laughter]
Lauren: Is that what you were talking about? No?
Female Presenter: Yeah, yeah.
Lauren: Everyone's laughing at me and I didn't know that that was funny.
Scotty: But we have like, seven outfits for tour and we'll choose one every show
and we'll wash it,
just pull one out from the rack every show.
Female Presenter: What did you say? You wash it?
Scotty: Well, we have a person out there that--.
Female Presenter: Yeah, I was like, you're not washing your clothes every morning.
You don't have time for that.
Scotty: I know.
Female Presenter: You gotta do interviews at Google.
Scotty: Exactly.
Female Presenter: We have another question, or a--?
female #2: A question and a favor.
So, my roommate Amy, she's been watching you now.
Scotty: Hey, Amy.
female #2 She's like, your biggest fan.
She saw you last night live.
She started her first day at YouTube today,
so she can't be here.
Can you just like, wave at her and say hello?
Scotty and Lauren: Hi Amy.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: This is Amy from YouTube.
It's her first day.
Scotty: How are you doing? Hey.
Female Presenter: Oh, she's fanning herself like this.
[laughter]
Lauren: I think she's crying.
Female Presenter: Was she crying?
Lauren: I think so.
Female Presenter: Let's hope not. Let's hope not.
Tears of joy.
Tears of joy will encourage.
It's positive.
[Lauren laughs]
female #3: I have a question for Lauren.
I read somewhere that Carrie Underwood said that every year
she gives out her numbers to the American Idols.
So, I was wondering since you're such a big fan of hers,
have you been calling her, keeping in touch?
Lauren: I've texted her a few times.
And she gave both of us her phone numbers,
so she tells us good luck for things and vice versa.
So it's really cool.
Scotty: The one time I texted her, my boys were in the car with me.
We were up in Nashville.
And all my boys, my friends, you know?
So, I was texting and they looked over the seat and said,
"Scotty, who's that?"
And I said, "It's just somebody."
And they said, "Is that Carrie Underwood?"
And they were like going crazy in the back seat. [laughter]
Yeah.
It's been really cool.
Female Presenter: And so, tell us a little bit.
That brings up your duet with Carrie Underwood and yours with Tim McGraw,
which was a pretty epic moment of the show.
What was that like for you guys?
And obviously you've been in touch with Carrie.
I guess we can call her Carrie,
but what about you with Tim and what was that like?
And was that, I'm guessing, a dream come true?
But what was it like?
Lauren: Well, I've always looked up to Carrie Underwood
ever since she was on the show.
And she's such a beautiful person inside and out.
And to actually meet her was incredible.
But to be able to sing with her and share the stage with her was like,
epic. [giggles]
Scotty: Oh yeah. Definitely.
And the thing with Carrie and Tim was they're such down to Earth, normal people.
I mean, even Jennifer Lopez.
I was backstage with her in dress rehearsal finale
and her mom was back there and she said,
"Mom, can you help me put my shoe on before I go on stage?"
So, they're just normal people.
And Tim was like my country Dad,
just helping me out and pat me on the back and giving me pointers and stuff.
So it was really cool to just see that they're not the heavenly Gods--.
Female Presenter: Right. They're real people.
They've gotta put their shoes on just like the rest of us.
Scotty: Exactly.
Female Presenter: So let's talk.
You bring up moms,
which I think is a good thing because both your Moms are here today
and on tour with you, which is pretty cool.
I just found out that not all the Idols on the tour have their parents with them.
Scotty: We're the lucky ones.
Female Presenter: Yeah.
[laughter]
Lauren: He means that.
[laughter]
Scotty: No really, really.
Female Presenter: So, what's that like?
I'm sure it's nice having a familiar face with you guys.
Scotty: It definitely is.
They were there every week to keep us in line
and to get things going for us behind the scenes
that not everybody sees.
I mean, people send us fan mail all the time at the studios,
so she'd sit down and she'd write out all the thanks and I'd sign them.
We had a system going.
It was always nice to know that they were there to help us out
and I don't know if we'd have made it this far without them.
Lauren: At one point,
I shared an apartment with Haley Reinhart
and she would get really upset and come and talk to my mom
because her mom wasn't there.
And I mean, when I was with her I realized how lucky
I really was to have my Mom there,
because I could just cry to her,
but when you get upset and you don't have anyone there,
you have to cry to your pillow.
We were lucky.
Female Presenter: Right. Very lucky.
So, I know Lauren, you have a brother at home.
And Scotty, do you have siblings, too?
Scotty: I got a sister.
Female Presenter: OK.
So what's it like to be far from home,
to not be in the middle of normal high school things right now?
What's it like keeping in touch and seeing those photos?
And what's that feel like?
Scotty: It's definitely tough on all of us.
I mean, my sister, she's at the beach working for the summer,
so she's having a good time.
But it's weird for us to be apart from them
because we've grown up our whole lives with them
and to be on the opposite side of the country from them,
I mean, we try to keep in touch.
I don't do the best, but I should've texted them and stuff.
Lauren: Surely not you.
Scotty: But it's definitely tough on all of us.
But it's just something that comes with the job description.
Female Presenter: Right. Right.
Scotty: I gotta find a way to get around it.
Lauren: Well, I mean, American Idol changed our lives.
Like, everyone that has--, like our family and everything.
And my brother just started doing Twitter,
'cause all of my fans,
like, tweeted me and told me to tell my brother to make a Twitter page.
And he has like fan pages and everything.
Female Presenter: Oh my goodness
Lauren: And my brother is really shy.
He's like the complete opposite of me.
He's like really smart and stuff.
Scotty: Really shy
Lauren: I'm not saying I'm not smart, I'm just saying--
[laughter]
Female Presenter: Lauren. Positive, positive.
Lauren: [giggling] But he, and he doesn't know what to do with all of them.
He's like, what am I supposed to do?"
So he just tweets my fans and it's the cutest thing ever.
Female Presenter: That's great!
Lauren: I mean, my brother and I, we're only 17 months apart so we're like,
really close.
And I just miss him.
But I talk to him on the phone quite often and it's just--.
He's really supportive along with both of our families are super supportive.
And we got like two more months of this tour
and we're gonna be reunited with 'em.
And this is our dream and we're living it
and our families are with us every step of the way.
So, we're really lucky kids.
Female Presenter: That's great.
That's great.
And then what's the plan for after the tour, which ends in what?
September?
Scotty: We'll still be working.
We're going straight from the tour
and then hopefully the album will launch soon after that.
So, we'll be able to go out there and do a couple weeks of album promotion.
And then hopefully,
I'm trying to work out some time where I can go home
and go enjoy some high school football games.
Lauren: Me, too.
Scotty: Just do the normal life for a while.
And then, back to work.
Female Presenter: Absolutely.
So, let's take another question from a Googler.
female #4: Hi, thanks for coming.
So, basically taking it back to the show.
I always wonder when Ryan came over and asked you questions,
how rehearsed were those questions?
Scotty: Not really at all. Lauren: They weren't.
Scotty: They'd tell us what the questions would be like right before he asked them.
Like, "Be prepared for this question."
Lauren: On the commercial break.
So he'd walk up and literally five seconds later you have to answer this question.
Scotty: Yeah, a lot of the stuff you saw was rehearsed on the show,
but that part of it wasn't.
Lauren: That's a good question.
I've never been asked that.
Female Presenter: Another question?
male #1: Yeah, hi.
Thanks for coming.
Scotty: Yeah.
male #5: So, my niece is a huge fan of yours, Scotty.
Scotty: Aw, tell her I said hey.
male #1: I used to get a text every night during the show
basically asking me to vote for you.
male #5: So I was wondering if you could give a shout-out to her.
Actually two of them, Isabella and Lulu. Scotty: Yeah, I'd love to.
Isabella and --
male #5: Lulu.
Scotty: Lulu?
male #5: Yeah.
Scotty: Just give a big shout-out.
All right then.
[laughter]
Hey, Isabella, hope you're going good.
And Lulu, that goes for you, too.
Thank ya'll for the support.
[applause]
male #5: Thank you.
[applause]
Female Presenter: Perfect.
Well, are there any other questions?
Oh. One more.
Go ahead.
female #5: Sorry, sorry.
OK. So you guys are in high school.
So how are you finishing your high school work?
Are you having to do that on the road, private tutors,
all that jazz?
Scotty: I just found out today I'm not done with English yet.
[laughter]
So, we're--.
I think you're done with your Sophomore year.
We're just finishing up.
Lauren: No, actually. I'm finishing it up right now.
Scotty: Yeah. So we're--.
It's taking our time.
I mean, it's definitely stressful on us to have school
and this tour and album recordings and stuff.
But most of my teachers are working with us and helping us get along.
So, I only need one more class to graduate after my Junior year.
Lauren: I've been doing my school on the internet.
Scotty: OK.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: Love the internet.
Lauren: I was trying to plug the internet, there.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: Well, earlier in the hangout,
someone was having trouble hearing
and Scotty said, "I think it must be your connection."
[laughter]
So, he gets it.
He gets it.
One more question?
Brett?
Brett: Hey guys.
Good to see you again.
Scotty: Yes, sir.
Brett: It's Brett.
How's it going?
So I was wondering,
what are some of the craziest things that have happened
since you guys started this journey,
then people don't really know that
they didn't see on the show and stuff like that?
And maybe you haven't talked a lot about publicly.
Or, some of the highlights or lowlights, those sorts of things that--.
Female Presenter: Give us a scoop.
Brett: Yeah. Give us a scoop.
What's the back story?
Scotty: What's the craziest stuff?
Like, behind the scenes stuff?
Female Presenter: Or on the tour, yes.
Brett: Behind the scenes,
or like things you never anticipated that were great that came out of this.
Scotty: Oh.
You know the night that Stevie Wonder came on the show and so did Hulk Hogan?
Well, we found out about an hour before the show
that Stevie Wonder was gonna be on the show.
So, we had to rehearse our whole new dance routine
and then we didn't know Hulk was comin' .
So like, everything in that show is impromptu.
And I mean, so, that kind of crazy stuff.
Live television is the worst part about it.
Lauren: And I think it was even Steven Teller's birthday that night
and Pia and I are the clumsiest people on the show
and they asked us to carry his cake in high heels.
So we were both like freaking out, walking across the stage.
The whole night was just like a surprise for everyone.
We didn't know any of that stuff was gonna happen.
Scotty: Yeah.
But there's a lot of crazy stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
We'd have bread balls.
The stage director would get like bread and she'd crumble it up in a ball
and we'd throw it across the stage and hit--.
Female Presenter: Bread?
Scotty: Yeah, bread balls.
And you had to catch it a certain way.
Female Presenter: A bread ball?
Scotty: It would go everywhere.
Female Presenter: This is our scoop: bread balls.
Lauren: You try to catch it without the bread breaking.
And it's really hard.
Female Presenter: What kind of bread?
Lauren: It's like--.
Scotty: Wonder Bread.
[laughter]
Lauren: You don't know that.
Scotty: You never know.
Lauren: It was a bagel, wasn't it?
She rolled up a bagel.
Scotty: Who knows?
Lauren: I don't know. Whatever.
Female Presenter: So this would happen before the shows or just during?
Lauren: This is how much fun we have backstage.
Female Presenter: And is the bread ball tradition going on tour with you?
Or is that just--.
Lauren: We should do it.
Scotty: We should.
I don't know if the venues would like us, but you know.
[Lauren laughs] [laughter]
Female Presenter: So what are your first impressions of Northern California?
You guys had a show last night in Oakland.
And how did that go?
Anything crazy happen?
Scotty: Crazy.
Uhhh.
Lauren: I can't think of anything.
Scotty: I got to watch the All-Star game on the bus,
'cause I come on at the last part of the show.
So I get to kinda chill, early. So, I got no--.
It was my first baseball game I got to watch in a couple months,
so it was nice.
I mean, yeah. Go back and enjoy my pastime.
Lauren: Last night it was everybody's birthday
and almost everyone that I met that was a little girl,
told me their name was Lauren.
Lauren is a popular name in California I have come to find out.
Female Presenter: What do you mean it was everyone's birthday?
Lauren: Everyone was like, "It's my birthday.
Can we please have a picture?"
Scotty: It was the truth . Didn't it?
Yeah.
Lauren: Didn't they?
Scotty: Yeah.
Lauren: Yeah, it was everybody's birthday yesterday.
[laughter]
Female Presenter: And so--.
Lauren: For real.
Female Presenter: everybody in Northern California's birthday was yesterday.
Lauren: Everybody's name that was Lauren that I met yesterday,
it was their birthday.
Female Presenter: And what about tonight?
You guys have a show tonight?
Are you nervous?
Are you relaxed?
What's the plan for the afternoon?
Scotty: Yeah, we're--.
It's just kinda like clockwork for us now.
It's just the same thing.
I mean, this is different.
This is a kind of a nice little thing for us to do.
So, we're heading to the venue and meet and greet,
show, meet and greet, dinner, bus.
Lauren: Bed.
[giggles] [laughter]
After a while you don't really get as nervous anymore
'cause it's just like, we do the same thing every time we're on the stage.
Scotty: Well, you still get the same rush right before you walk on a stage and right
when you get on it.
Lauren: Yeah, it's just right before you walk out there,
except when you fall down the stairs and you have a boot on your foot.
And then all I have to do is sit there now.
So, I have a lot less to worry about.
Female Presenter: And then, so we need to just about wrap up.
Do you guys have any messages for the Googlers, for the YouTubers out there?
And we'll post this online, so anything you wanna say.
Scotty: Go ahead.
Lauren: When the age is dropped on Google+, we will join.
[laughter] [applause]
Scotty: Yeah, definitely.
But thank you Google for all ya'll's support.
And I'll keep reading the positive things I see on Google and not the negative things.
But yeah. YouTube's been great for us, too.
It's been wonderful to have these two tools with us along the journey.
Female Presenter: All right. Great.
Well, on behalf of Google+ and Musicians@Google and all the folks here,
we're just so happy that you guys could stop by today.
Best of luck.
Congratulations and thanks for coming.
Scotty: Thank you.
[applause]